UEFA Euro 1968

1968 UEFA European Football Championship

Italia '68
UEFA Euro 1968 official logo
Tournament details
Host country	Italy
Dates	5 – 10 June
Teams	4
Venue(s)	3 (in 3 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Italy (1st title)
Runners-up	Yugoslavia
Third place	England
Fourth place	Soviet Union
Tournament statistics
Matches played	5
Goals scored	7 (1.4 per match)
Attendance	260,916 (52,183 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Dragan Džajić (2 goals)

The 1968 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in Italy. This was the third European Football Championship, an event held every four years and organised by UEFA. The final tournament took place between 5 and 10 June 1968.

It was in this year that the tournament changed its name from the European Nations' Cup to the European Championship.

There were also some changes in the tournament's qualifying structure, with the two-legged home-and-away knock-out stage being replaced by a group phase.

Only four countries played in the final tournament. There were semi-finals, the final and a third place match.

The hosts were only announced after the qualifying round, which meant that they had to qualify along with all the others for the final stage.

Venues

Florence Rome Naples
	Rome	Naples
	Stadio Olimpico	Stadio San Paolo
	Capacity: 80,000	Capacity: 82,000
	Florence
	Stadio Comunale
	Capacity: 52,000

Qualification

Main article: UEFA Euro 1968 qualifying

The qualification competition was played in two stages: a group stage (taking place from 1966 until 1968) and the quarter-finals (played in 1968). There were eight qualifying groups of four teams each with the exception of group 4, which only had three. The matches were played in a home-and-away basis. Victories were worth 2 points, draws 1 point, and defeats 0 points. Only group winners could qualify for the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals were played in two legs on a home-and-away basis. The winners of the quarter-finals would go through to the final tournament.

The following teams participated in the final tournament:

See also: UEFA Euro 1968 squads

Country	Qualified as	Date of qualification	Previous appearances1
England	Play-off winner	000000001968-05-08-00008 May 1968	0 (debut)
Italy (host)	Play-off winner	000000001968-04-20-000020 April 1968	0 (debut)
Soviet Union	Play-off winner	000000001968-05-11-000011 May 1968	2 (1960, 1964)
Yugoslavia	Play-off winner	000000001968-04-24-000024 April 1968	1 (1960)

¹ Bold indicates champion for that year

Final tournament

1968 UEFA European Football Championship finalists.

The Italian team commemorated on a 1968 Ajman stamp

All time are CEST/UTC+2

	Semi-finals				Final
	5 June – Naples (Stadio San Paolo)
	Italy (coin toss)	0
	Soviet Union	0
					8 June – Rome (Stadio Olimpico) (replayed 10 June)
					Italy	2 (1)
					Yugoslavia	0 (1)
					Third place
	5 June – Florence (Stadio Comunale)			8 June – Rome (Stadio Olimpico)
	Yugoslavia	1		England	2
	England	0			Soviet Union	0

Semi-finals

Italy v Soviet Union

5 June 1968 18:00

Italy	0–0 (a.e.t.)	Soviet Union
	Report

Stadio San Paolo, Naples Attendance: 68,582 Referee: Kurt Tschenscher (West Germany)

Match decided by toss of coin: Italy captain Giacinto Facchetti called correctly.

---

Yugoslavia v England

5 June 1968 21:15

Yugoslavia	1–0	England
Džajić  87'	Report

Stadio Comunale, Florence Attendance: 21,834 Referee: José María Ortiz de Mendíbil (Spain)

Third place play-off

England v Soviet Union

8 June 1968 18:45

England	2–0	Soviet Union
Charlton  39' Hurst  63'	Report

Stadio Olimpico, Rome Attendance: 68,817 Referee: István Zsolt (Hungary)

Final

Main article: UEFA Euro 1968 Final

Italy v Yugoslavia

8 June 1968 21:15

Italy	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Yugoslavia
Domenghini  80'	Report	Džajić  32'

Stadio Olimpico, Rome Attendance: 68,817 Referee: Gottfried Dienst (Switzerland)

As the match ended in a draw, a replay was played to determine the winner.

Italy v Yugoslavia

10 June 1968 21:15 Replay

Italy	2–0	Yugoslavia
Riva  12' Anastasi  31'	Report

Stadio Olimpico, Rome Attendance: 32,866 Referee: José María Ortiz de Mendíbil (Spain)

Statistics

Top scorers

Seven goals were scored by six different players in the five matches, for an average of 1.4 goals per game. None of the goals were credited as own goals. Yugoslavia's Dragan Džajić was the top scorer by virtue of being the only player to score more than one goal.

2 goals

• Dragan Džajić

1 goal

• Luigi Riva
• Angelo Domenghini
• Pietro Anastasi
• Geoff Hurst
• Bobby Charlton

Awards

UEFA Team of the Tournament

Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Dino Zoff	Mirsad Fazlagić	Ivan Osim	Geoff Hurst
	Giacinto Facchetti	Sandro Mazzola	Luigi Riva
	Albert Shesternyov	Angelo Domenghini	Dragan Džajić
	Bobby Moore